King's German Legion

The King's German Legion was a body of 14,000 German expatriate personnel who served in the army of the United Kingdom against the First French Empire from 1803 to 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. After France occupied Hanover on 5 July 1803, many former Hanoverian officers and soldiers fled to England, where they were recruited to form a legion of German soldiers in the British Army. The legion fought with renown in Spain and Portugal before fighting at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, with the Duke of Wellington leading them into battle in both cases. In 1816, the legion was disbanded after Hanover's liberation.